Fortnite's First Vehicle Is Not What You Expected

The first four-wheeled vehicle has careened into Fortnite: Battle Royale and the team at Epic has managed once again to offer something totally unique to set it apart from the competition.

As you can see from the above tweet, shopping carts are now available in Fortnite, giving players a new way to get around the map. Epic also celebrated the launch of the carts in a recent blog post, though we can't find any information on whether or not they are a temporary item or being kept in for good.

What we do know is how the carts operate, and it's pretty wild. For starters, carts are made for one or two players only, so you might want to try to grab a couple if you're cruising around the map with a full squad of four.

Playing solo, you can push the cart at a pretty quick clip and even jump on the back of it and kick (like you're riding a skateboard) for some extra speed. If you get to a hill, you can hop on the back to ride it down more quickly, or even jump into the basket where you'll be able to fire your weapon.

If you're cruising with a teammate, one player does the pushing while the other rides in the front like a mounted turret. Think Jackass and you've got the right idea.

A while back, Epic stated that traditional vehicles would not be introduced to Fortnite, and we'd argue that shopping carts falls within those parameters. The Battle Royale map isn't exactly massive and the game's pace is decent for looting and moving without feeling rushed, so cars and ATVs would likely hurt the flow of the match. These carts, though, aren't super-fast or available in numbers that are likely to have a big impact on a match and, truth be told, they kind of make you stand out like a sore thumb. Also, there's a sort of risk/reward relationship that comes with snagging one. It's a bit faster than running, sure, but you can't take out your opponents with a collision and only one "seat" allows you to fire a weapon.

Even better is the fact that these shopping carts feel like a perfect fit for the goofy tone of Fortnite. They add yet another wrinkle to the gameplay, but they're also a bit on the silly side. Also, again, they set Battle Royale apart from the pack. When games like PUBG and H1Z1 have cars and trucks, it's nice to see Epic continuing to distinguish itself from the more "serious" battle royale games. That's not a knock on those other games so much as a bit of cheering for diversity.

And diversity is important in these kinds of games. It's unlikely a lawsuit will surface due to the use of shopping carts, right?